Places where you can find hidden treasures. Mortgage coins in old houses
Many people have heard about mortgage coins, but not everyone fully understands what they are, much less searched for them. Some of the treasure hunters purposefully look for them, while others only if the opportunity arises. In general, searching for them is not easy; it often takes a lot of time and effort, although for some comrades this is of some interest.
To find them, you need to have at least a small idea of who placed the coins, in what buildings, in what location and quantity.
Why were the coins hidden?
In the old days, villages had a lot of different customs, bad and good, kind and not so good. All of them, to one degree or another, reflected the life of that difficult time. The tradition of introducing some rituals did not bypass the construction of a house. For example, when laying walls, coins were placed in the first rows of bricks or crowns of logs - and so they were later called mortgages.
This tradition was once very widespread in pre-revolutionary Russia. Its meaning was very simple and precise, like many other phenomena in the peasant village. Money is wealth and if you put it in special places in the house, then in the future the family will have a comfortable life.
Of course, not every peasant could afford to deposit a coin, but only a fairly wealthy one, because in the old days one money allowed an entire family to live for some time. Hence, they pawned different coins depending on their wealth: some people put a silver ruble, and others a copper troyak. But still, in general, both the poor and the rich tried to put the coin as expensive as possible.
In general, predominantly silver and copper coins, the most different denominations, although it should be noted that, although very rare, gold, as well as other items, such as tokens and commemorative medals, are also found. And sometimes even simple products, such as brass rings from horse harnesses.
Where and how much did they put?
It is clear that different cultures and technologies for building houses brought some differences to the places where coins were laid in different provinces of our country. But in general, these places are the same for most houses and are well known.
The most common method is to place money in the corners of walls. Their number directly depended on the wealth of the owners of the house; if funds allowed, they were placed under each corner of the house; if not, only in one, the so-called “red” corner.
It is difficult to indicate a specific location; the location of coins in different regions and even nearby villages is not the same.
Most often it was like this:
- between the foundation cushion and the first crown of logs,
- between the first and second crown,
- in stone houses you can find them between the first rows of bricks.
Where else can there be mortgages?
Under the window sill cushion, under the matnitsa (logs holding the ceiling), under the threshold of the front door.
In addition to the residential building, sometimes coins were also placed in the corners of outbuildings.
The complete absence of coins in many houses suggests that either the family was very poor, or the house was already being rebuilt and they were removed (in Soviet times, no one remembered the custom).
How to search?
Surely in your area, “thin” people hunted for such royal coins, leaving behind them all the houses in a row barbarously damaged - corners and window sills sawed out with a chainsaw. An old house, even if it has been abandoned for a long time, should not be damaged; we must respect the work of our ancestors who once lived here. The house has seen a lot in its lifetime - both sorrow and joy, the flourishing of village life and its decline. So we need to let him live out his days with dignity.
Therefore, the search must be carried out with a metal detector; it will accurately indicate whether to touch the house or not. In general, any of them is suitable for these purposes; for example, such popular models as ACE-250 or (T-305) will detect a coin without any problems.
Using MD we save time and effort by weeding out empty houses
Having heard a characteristic color signal, you can begin to excavate the find. The easiest way to do this is using a chisel, a hatchet and a jack. Most of the logs have already rotted, so this will not be so difficult to do.
Using a jack requires being extremely careful; before you put your hands anywhere, you need to protect yourself by placing a block between the logs or removing a coin with a stick.
It’s even easier to look for coins in houses that have already disappeared; you just need to rake away a layer of rubbish in the corners of the house and ring the place with a device.
Mortgage coins, due to their location in a well-protected place, are often very well preserved. Only sometimes do they show signs of damage due to movements of the house or as a result of prolonged walking.
Many people are probably wondering whether the time spent searching for such antiques is worth it? Of course, you will have to work hard; many treasure hunters would prefer digging in a garden or garden to this activity. Considering that there are only a few intact houses left, we can quite agree with this.
Treasure - how pleasant this word sounds for a treasure hunter. But under this big word there are many nuances that not all search engines know about. After all, many simply go to the fields, old maps, and let’s collect the “lost items”, that is, coins. But you also need to understand where treasures were hidden in old houses, so that you can not only look in the fields for, as they say, “remains,” but also more valuable finds and be the first on the spot, and not finish off after someone else what’s left.
Perhaps I won’t discover America for someone, because this topic has been discussed 100 times on various forums, these methods were shown in videos, this topic was often discussed in VK groups. Therefore, since there is a lot of information on the Internet, it is scattered in parts. I want to collect it in one pile and publish it on my blog.
Attention!!! Anyone who likes the article and wants to supplement it with his own stories or secrets about hidden treasures can write in the comments, I will be happy to supplement this article with your methods or guesses.
Where were the treasures hidden?
And so, initially in the old days they believed that when building a house, if you put it in the foundation silver coins, then there will always be prosperity in the house. Some did this ritual to appease the brownie so that he would not play pranks in the house. This ritual was called “Incense”.
Therefore, it does not matter what year the house was built, because... this sign or superstition has remained to this day, and even now in the 21st century, coins are placed in the corner of the foundation so that there is supposedly money in the house.
So it’s worth looking at the corner of the house in the foundation, especially if the house is being demolished.
Every old house has a basement. Search engines know that nowadays in old houses, the basements are usually filled with garbage and little remains of them. It is true, and this is the bitter truth. But in fact, we don’t need the bottom of the basement, we need its walls. Because it is in the walls that you can often find that very secret brick that was walled up with jewelry.
I want to tell you a story about a treasure hidden in a basement, you should like it, maybe you won’t be so disdainful of looking for treasures in old cellars and basements. Because there is a lot of dust, cobwebs and collapses, that’s exactly what I thought before, and I never even climbed into them.
1917, revolution! Anarchy completely engulfed Odessa. Banditry flourished. Only according to official data from police reports, 5-8 raids, 20-30 thefts and robberies, and from 5 to 15 criminal murders were recorded every day. Just imagine the panic of Odessa residents.
There were a lot of Jews living in Odessa at that time. And as a rule they did not live in poverty. One of these Jewish elders had plenty of gold, which would have been enough for both his children and grandchildren. He decided to hide it in his basement and quickly go abroad to his son until everything calmed down. Naturally, he could not take all the gold coins he had acquired with him, because he was afraid of a robbery attack on him, and that he would be left with nothing.
In the basement he had a narrow niche in which he put all the goods with a box in this bottom, covered it with bricks and cemented it. He did all this at night, the day before leaving. And he went to his son in Israel.
Exactly two years later, when the unrest in Odessa had more or less subsided, he decided to return with his son for the jewelry to hand it over to the heir. So when they returned, the house was demolished, and naturally his cache could no longer be found there. And the old man had a heart attack.
I don’t know if this is true or not, one man told me this story, and I decided to share it with you.
The attic is a place that is always dry and difficult to access. Therefore, treasures were often hidden in attics. Usually this place was near the chimney, or between the ceiling and the roof. As with the previous method, the attic is a permanent place where not only acquired wealth was hidden, but weapons were often hidden there from prying eyes.
You can often find German helmets in attics, because... in Soviet times, if a German helmet was found in the yard, they could be sent to court. Therefore, those who found German helmets, or children brought them into the house, the residents tried to put them in the attic, to avoid unnecessary problems.
Also in attics you can find a lot of interesting finds in the dust on the floor. When all the washed clothes were dried in the attics in winter, coins, badges, etc. very often fell out of pockets. It’s difficult to call this a treasure. But as good finds, you can.
Oak in Rus' has always been considered a magical tree. Therefore, an oak tree was often planted near the house as a symbol of masculinity, or to supposedly feed the house with energy. It was believed that the oak was a very tall tree, but lightning had never struck it.
Therefore, very often treasures were hidden near the oak tree, because oak is a long-lived tree, and our ancestors were sure that even after 100-200 years, this tree would be in the same place, and it very often served as a good guide so as not to forget the place.
So when looking for treasure, pay attention not only to oaks, but to tall old trees, which may be the very same treasure. As a rule, the treasure may not be in the roots themselves, because over many years the tree could have carried the treasure away several meters around.
Oh, and stock up on a lot of patience and a sharp axe. because digging out coins from roots is the most difficult thing that treasure hunters can have.
The well is exactly the place where they could dump everything they acquired in a hurry. Because this place is very difficult to reach.
But nowadays it is very difficult to find wells that have already been preserved; they are all collapsed and silted up so much that it is already difficult to find anything there. But abandon the search magnet that I wrote about here. I highly recommend that if you have such an interesting thing, don’t forget to use it.
By the way, silver was very often thrown into the well. It is believed that silver cleans water and kills all bacteria. I don’t know how true this is, but it’s true that this method has been used for a long time.
So if you have the opportunity to dig into a well that is not deep, I would recommend looking there.
The underground in the house is exactly the place where, according to statistics, most treasures are found. What’s easier is to remove the board and hide precious finds there. After all, this is the most inconspicuous place, and at the same time the easiest for a hiding place.
I read on one forum that one guy (a search engine) only searches under the floor, without looking into other hot spots. Justifying this by the fact that it is under the floor where all the gusto is. Either it fell or rolled, or it was just a hiding place. But it is there that he picks up all the finds.
Very often they hid coins in the stove, specifically in the vent. Since the place is always dry, it was not noticeable. That's why I would recommend checking there more often.
In general the most best search treasures, this is on a tip. When someone tells you that they know 100% that there is a treasure in this house. Then the percentage of probability of finding something valuable there increases.
For example, a friend of mine found 2 chervonets based on a tip. Although the one who told him about the treasure was sure that there should be more coins there, but most likely they were hidden in another place, because the whole house was searched. We searched all the secret places, removed the underground, broke down the stove and found nothing. And two chervonets were found in a clay brick in a barn.
In our today's review we will study another one from all sides prospective search coins, in this case, mortgaged coins at the corners of the old house, under the foundation. Search newbies will ask, “How did they get there?” They got there along with the tradition according to which, since ancient times, they placed coins under the corners of the foundation of a house during its construction, for prosperity, so that there would always be money in it.
The denomination of the mortgage coins depended on the wealth of the future owner of the house; naturally, under the house of a poor person, you will not find royal silver and gold coins.
In the foundation of a poor person there is usually: a penny, a three-ruble note, a kopeck, less often a coin or half a ruble (in Soviet-built houses - rarely silver fifty dollars). Noble old house or the estate of a landowner, they often gave stubborn treasure hunters silver rubles and half rubles, and especially lucky ones - golden chervonets, but this is one case in a thousand rich foundations dug up. Usually a coin went out of circulation - the king changed, the coins remained.
Therefore, the age of the house cannot be judged by the mortgaged coin; in most cases it is younger than the year of the coin. Along with coins, charmed herbs against evil spirits, bread, incense and other traditional things were placed under the foundation.
Where can the pawned coins be located? Technology for their extraction.
Almost always you will find a pawned coin under the so-called "Red Corner"- the right corner of the wall of the house running parallel to the street of the village on which your house stands (this is where they began to build the house). You need to look for it between the bottom rows of logs (usually between the first and second logs).
Some made depressions in the log, put a coin there, and closed it with the next one - perpendicular. Others placed a mortgage coin under a specially prepared mortgage stone, which was located in the foundation of the house. In general, at different times and in different regions, the laying technology was unique; there is no clear recipe for everyone.
Usually an icon was placed in the “Red Corner”. “Red Corner” was located on the eastern side. If the house stands alone (settlement), or only one foundation remains of it, we will first examine the corner directed to the east (for the “dense” - where the Sun rises).
Of course, it is optimal to make a hole for the entire foundation, i.e. dig up the survey area to the extent of a bayonet or two (depending on the thickness of the layering of the remains of the house), this applies to the case of the absence of a structure.
And now it is very difficult to find entire old houses; they have all been combed by searchers. Often there are entire villages of abandoned houses with the corners already cut off.
I remembered one incident from my first trips to the cops. Now I don’t remember what kind of departure it was – maybe the third one. The metal detector is the first for training and simple “to the point of disgrace”, everything is as it should be. I arrive at the site of the landowner’s estate, and from the stories of the locals I learn that the building was made of brick, it was demolished about 60 years ago (most likely the brick was taken away intact for construction needs).
I happily rush around the foundation of the estate, a bunch of future finds flash in my thoughts, but I only receive signals from traffic jams that lie almost on the surface (see 5-7). The soil is difficult to dig, the fragments of brick are all here, in general I didn’t find anything.
Now I often remember that incident and laugh at my inexperience at that time. After all, a layer of brick and all sorts of debris removed the cultural layer (the layer where objects from the ancient era are located) of finds by at least 20–30 cm + another 15–20 cm if you look for embedded coins in the foundation. But my “ASYA 150” (), could not boast of such a depth of search, and it is unlikely that a super sophisticated metal detector could see a ten-kopeck piece, for example, at a depth of half a meter, the value of a little more than a Soviet penny.
In my case, the only correct solution would be to remove a layer of debris and dig 1-2 bayonets into the next layer, then the probability of finding finds would increase to 90-95%. Without modesty, I would pull everything out of there, even though it would require the titanic labor of removing the layer and digging it up (the area of the estate was approximately 30 by 40 meters).
Beginners to the search (I think the majority of readers of this article will be them) take note, if you have started to build the foundation of the estate, dig a pit, the finds will pay off all the calluses and sweat. At the very least, this activity will bring many times more than collecting dead “lost ones” in the fields. Indeed, along with pawned coins, the list of finds will be replenished with: items of ancient utensils (not necessarily coins, maybe some valuable goods), valuable pugs, coins under the floor, etc.
I’m still getting ready to dig for revenge on this unfortunate estate of my first steps in treasure hunting, but while “my hands don’t get around to it,” when I get there, I’ll insert the report right into this article. But let's return to the topic of our article. At all four corners of the house, coins are very rare.
At the same time (if the house has been preserved) we check the space under the porch (under the threshold), under the window sills (we put coins for protection from evil spirits). From the equipment for examining the foundation, we take: a crowbar, two shovels (one for reserve), preferably a chainsaw and a jack.
Good luck in your search. Read our blog.
If you ever find an abandoned village with surviving buildings, which our brother “treasure hunter” has not yet explored in his own interests, consider yourself very lucky, like we were last year (it was in the former Simbirsk Province, the village was small, about for 20 houses, they raised about 200 coins in 3 days, approximately tsarist and Soviet in half). Old houses are literally a window into past centuries.
How and where to find coins in old houses we will talk in this article, I will tell you right away, if the village was large and rich, consider that you won the Jackpot, there are probably several hundred coins lying there and waiting for us (it happened that coins were found in one village almost all emperors from Peter 1).
Most importantly, make sure that the house is without owners and does not belong to anyone, otherwise you will not avoid trouble with the law.
Currently, old houses in the villages closest to the city are being bought by townspeople “for dachas”; I know of cases where comrades and summer residents clash.
The searchers mistakenly accepted the old dilapidated house as a nobody's house, and began to gut it in the spring, thank God everything worked out, with the condition that the damage was restored.
Also remember that when entering a very old house, almost entirely consisting of rubbish, you risk getting hit on the head with a beam, falling into the underground, stepping on a nail, etc. , so a first aid kit, safety precautions and a partner will help you.
Bookmarking coins when building a house
First and foremost, you must check the so-called “pawn coins”. What are they and where to look for them? There was a custom in Rus' for Mother, when building a new house, to place a coin under the frame for good luck and as a tribute to the spirits who supposedly protect the house, make it prosperous and rich.
The poor put one coin in the corner where the icon would stand; those who were richer put coins in all four corners.
Coins were also placed under mother logs, under thresholds, under window sills, and some managed to be placed under floorboards. Such bookmarks were usually made with large copper coins (rarely silver and gold). These coins are almost always out of circulation, so if you find an angled coin, such as an 1890, don't assume it's the same age as the house.
To cut the corners of the house, grab a chainsaw, without it you will get tired faster than you get to the “pawn coin”.
Lost coins under the floor. Let's examine the attic
We have taken out all the coins (if there were any) that were pledged during the construction of the house, and we are moving on to an equally important stage - searching for “lost items”. During the life of a family, and maybe several generations, quite a lot of coins have accumulated in the house, which fell into the cracks of the floor, rolled into a hole in the underground made for a cat, for example, add to this the folk custom of throwing small coins on the heads of newlyweds at the entrance to the house, and During the life of the house, we will end up with a lot of lost coins, which we naturally really want to get our hands on.
You need to disassemble the floor; for this it is useful to have a crowbar. But in many cases, gender no longer exists. Usually, when residents abandon a house, neighbors or relatives are the first to remove the floorboards, since they are strong and the most valuable (but still take a crowbar, just in case).
You will need a sniper coil; usually there is a lot of metal debris in the underground of the house. We examine every inch of land very carefully; sometimes we found almost 90 small pieces of copper in the underground, but this is rare. But there is almost always a good “catch”.
Then we go to the attic, or rather, we climb very carefully, testing the strength of the log planks with our feet. I’ll say right away that the attic is a promising place, but it’s not a one-time solution. Where to look? We will definitely examine the backfill using the same “sniper” rifle; a treasure is quite likely. We examine all the rubbish in the attic at valuable items, look at the floors, feel the distances between the boards. I usually, being in the attic, imagine where I could hide something valuable so that it would not be found during a search (those were difficult times).
The probability of finding treasure in an ancient house...
As a last resort (I usually do this, you can spend as much time as you have left) you can examine the walls, stove, pipe, etc. for the presence of a “stash”, or maybe treasure. To do this, we will use a “pinpointer” (hand-held metal detector). We tap and inspect the walls. In the stove, namely in the chimney, the probability of the presence of treasure is much higher (according to statistics). Well, lastly, or another day, we inspect the area around the house and conduct a search in the garden. In general, there will be finds if you are not lazy; on the other hand, there are almost no lazy seekers among the searchers. Have a good search and find more rarities. Bye.
Mortgage coins
Many people have heard about mortgage coins, but not everyone fully understands what they are, much less searched for them. Some of the treasure hunters purposefully look for them, while others only if the opportunity arises. Searching for such coins is generally not easy; it often takes a lot of time and effort, although for some treasure hunters this is of some interest.
To find them, you need to have at least a small idea of who placed the coins, in what buildings, in what location and quantity.
In the old days, villages had a lot of different customs, bad and good, kind and not so good. All of them, to one degree or another, reflected the life of that difficult time. The tradition of introducing some rituals did not bypass the construction of a house. For example, when laying walls, coins were placed in the first rows of bricks or crowns of logs - and so they were later called mortgages. This tradition was once very widespread in pre-revolutionary Russia. Its meaning was very simple and precise, like many other phenomena in a peasant village - money is wealth and if you put it in special places in the house, then in the future the family will have a comfortable life.
Of course, not every peasant could afford to deposit a coin, but only a fairly wealthy one, because in the old days one money allowed an entire family to live for some time. Hence, they pawned different coins depending on their wealth - some people put a silver ruble, and others a copper troyak. But still, in general, both the poor and the rich tried to put as expensive a coin as possible.
In general, mostly silver and copper coins of various denominations were used as mortgage coins, although it should be noted that, although very rarely, gold coins or other items, for example, tokens, were found.
It is clear that different cultures and technologies for building houses brought some differences to the places where coins were laid in different provinces of our country.
But in general, these places are the same for most houses and are well known.
The most common method is to place coins in the corners of walls. Their number directly depended on the wealth of the owners of the house; if funds allowed, they were placed under each corner of the house, if not - only in one, the so-called red corner.
It is difficult to indicate a specific location; the location of coins in different regions and even nearby villages is not the same. Most often, if the house is wooden, it was placed like this: between the foundation cushion and the first crown of logs, between the first and second crown. In stone houses you can find them between the first rows of bricks.
In addition to the residential building, sometimes coins were also placed in the corners of outbuildings.
Where else can pawn coins be found?
Under the window sill cushion, under the matnitsa (logs holding the ceiling), under the threshold of the front door.
The complete absence of coins in many abandoned houses suggests that either the family was very poor, or the house had already been rebuilt and the coins had been removed (in Soviet times, no one remembered the custom).
How to look for such coins?
Surely, in your area, thin people were hunting for such royal coins, leaving behind them all the houses in a row barbarously damaged - the corners and window sills were sawed out with a chainsaw. An old house, even if it has been abandoned for a long time, should not be damaged; we must respect the work of our ancestors who once lived here. The house has seen a lot in its lifetime - both sorrow and joy, the flourishing of village life and its decline. So we need to let him live out his days with dignity.
It is best to search with a metal detector; in general, any of them will be suitable for these purposes; ACE-250 or a grater -34 will detect a coin without any problems.
By using MD we save time and effort by weeding out empty houses.
Having heard a characteristic color signal, you can begin to remove the coin. The easiest way to do this is using a chisel, a hatchet and a jack. Most of the logs have already rotted, so this will not be so difficult to do.
Using a jack requires being extremely careful; before you put your hands anywhere, you need to protect yourself by placing a block between the logs or removing a coin with a stick.
It’s even easier to look for coins in houses that have already disappeared; you just need to rake away a layer of rubbish in the corners of the house and ring the place with a metal detector.
Mortgage coins, due to their location in a well-protected place, are often very well preserved. Only sometimes they have various damages due to the movements of the house.
Many people are probably wondering whether the time spent searching for such coins is worth it? Of course, you will have to work hard; many treasure hunters would prefer digging in a garden or field to this activity. Considering that there are only a few intact houses left, we can quite agree with this.
ATTENTION!!! ATTENTION!!! ATTENTION!!!
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in the Perm region. It will be interesting for you to watch, and maybe join us and gain experience.